Games at the border

Luckily her back was turned as she searched for whatever herbs she could scrounge up in the dead and dying garden. She was the older one here, and therefore responsible. Had she kept alert on their patrol, none of this -- telling him about her past, being surprised by the wild dogs -- none of it would've happened. Thankfully, she had time to school her features as she turned around with a few marigold flowerheads clutched in her teeth.

"Sit still for me?" She twisted around to pull out the doeskins she'd tucked into her bracelet. Gently, she cleaned away the blood from the cut on his face, then the one on his back. Trying her best not to hurt the boy in doing so, though she new it could sting.

With one more free patch of doeskin, she chewed up the marigold petals into a paste, and spat them onto the smooth side of the patch of hide. Then, she took the bottle of honey that Cairo had given her and added a few dribbles of the golden mixture to the herb. It would help the paste stick to the wound without sloughing away. Carefully, she began to apply a bit to the cut on his face, and then padded around to reach the wounds on his back. She would have liked to use horsetail, but the garden was bereft of the herb, unfortunately.